Press Releases & Updates 2000

The three activists used a small inflatable dinghy to enter the 500m Protected Area around the base and managed to dodge MOD Police boats to reach the side of the giant 153,000 tonne floating jetty.

The Explosives Handling Jetty is used to fit the Trident nuclear warheads onto missiles prior to loading onto Trident submarines before they go on patrol.

Ten metres from the jetty, Ulla Røder, 45, jumped from the boat and avoided apprehension for over 30 minutes. Zoë Weir, 24, climbed onto a ladder on the side of the jetty after, Phill Jones, 37, managed to steer the boat alongside. The boat was then rammed by a MOD Police inflatable and started sinking.

Shortly afterwards, two other Ploughshares activists were arrested for cutting several large holes in the perimeter fence of the Faslane nuclear submarine base. Katri Silvonen. 22, and Tim Coleman, 26, used bolt cutters to cut the weld-mesh before being apprehended.

All activists were released in the early hours of this morning, except Ulla Røder who will appear later today at Helensburgh District Court. Ulla was one of the three women acquitted last November by Sheriff Margaret Gimblett in Greenock after disarming the submarine testing station in Loch Goil.

The open and accountable acts of people’s disarmament continue. Words without action are meaningless. The total number arrested since this camp started is 131.

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